Trump Responds to Democrats Boycotting Inauguration

President-elect Donald Trump responded to Democratic members of the House planning to boycotting his inauguration by basically saying he doesn’t care what they do, and would like them to forfeit their tickets for people who actually want to attend.

At least 60 Democratic members of the House of Representatives have opted to miss Friday’s ceremonies, most notably Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who said last week that he did not consider Trump a “legitimate” president.

“I think he just grandstanded, John Lewis, and then he got caught in a very bad lie, so let’s see what happens,” said Trump, referencing Lewis’ initial claim that Trump’s would be the first inauguration he’s missed – despite having previously boycotted George W. Bush’s 2001 inauguration.

Lewis’ office later claimed they had forgotten that incident, but Trump said: “You don’t forget something like that.”

Trump said he’d be willing to sit down with Lewis but added, “We’re off to a bad start.”

As for other lawmakers not attending, Trump said, “that’s OK, because we need seats so badly, I hope they give me their tickets.”

Here’s Trump’s full interview this morning on Fox & Friends:

In a way, this type of confrontation is like a package with a bow on it for the President-elect. He ran on a platform against politicians and the status-quo. Every time he is attacked by politicians, it only helps to bolster him with his base and fortify his reason for running. In this case, he can simply say he doesn’t care what the politicians think, he only cares what the people think, etc…

Our brilliant writer, Goethe, made this timely observation in the comments of the previous story:

This is typical of Democratic impotence. What will this accomplish? They should have saved their indignation for issues.

An earlier example was the nonsensical “Occupy Wall Street,” which accomplished nothing–only used up the energy that could have gone to working on concrete issues, instead. At about the same time, the right was forming the “Tea Party,” which has moved the country’s discussion since 2010. Contrast.

Nate Ashworth :Nate Ashworth is the Founder and Senior Editor of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for almost a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016.